A railway vehicle damping device that suppresses vibration of a railway vehicle body in a right-left direction relative to a running direction of the railway vehicle comprises, for example, a variable damping force damper interposed between the vehicle body and a bogie. A damping force required to suppress the vibration of the vehicle body is determined from a yaw direction angular velocity of the vehicle body and a sway direction velocity of the vehicle body in a vehicle body center, and a damping force of the variable damping force damper is adjusted so that the determined damping force can be generated.
More specifically, a damping force required to suppress yaw direction vibration is calculated by multiplying a distance from a vehicle center to a bogie center and a control gain by a yaw rate. Further, a damping force required to suppress sway direction vibration is calculated by multiplying a control gain by the sway direction velocity. The damping force to be generated by the variable damping force damper is then calculated as a sum of the yaw direction vibration suppressing damping force and the sway direction vibration suppressing damping force.
JP2003-320931A, published by the Japan Patent Office, proposes providing variable damping force dampers for suppressing yaw direction and sway direction vibration respectively between a vehicle body of a railway vehicle and a bogie that supports a vehicle body front portion and between the vehicle body and a bogie that supports a vehicle body rear portion.